When the UN refused to agree to the severe sanctions that
the U.S. wanted,
Obama responded with typical Bush flair and went
solo. The new U.S. sanctions
against Iran -- signed
into law by Obama on July 1st -- are an
unmistakable act of war.

If fully enforced, Iran's economy
will be potentially destroyed.The New York Times
outlines the central parts of the sanctions:

"The law signed by Mr. Obama imposes penalties on foreign
entities that sell refined petroleum to Iran or assist Iran with its
domestic refining capacity. It also requires that
American and foreign businesses that seek contracts with the United
States government certify that they
do not engage in prohibited business
with Iran." (July 1, 2010).

Iran must
import the majority of its oil from foreign corporations and
nations, since it does not have the technology needed to refine the fuel
that
it pumps from its soil. By cutting this refined oil off, the U.S. will be
causing massive, irreparable damage to the Iranian
economy -- equaling an act of war.

In fact, war against Japan in WWII
was sparked by very similar circumstances. Franklin
Delano Roosevelt spearheaded a series of sanctions against Japan, which
included the Export Control Act, giving the President the
power to prohibit the export of a variety of materials to Japan, including
oil.This gave Roosevelt the legal
stance he
needed to implement an oil embargo, an obvious act of war.Japan's attack
on Pearl Harbor simply brought the war out of
the economic realm into the
military sphere.

Iran is facing
the exact same situation.Whereas the Obama
Administration calmly portrays economic sanctions as "peaceful"
solutions to
political problems, they are anything but.The strategy here is to
economically attack Iran until it
responds militarily, giving the U.S. a fake
moral high ground to "defend" itself, since the other side
supposedly attacked first.

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But the U.S. is
provoking militarily too. According to the New York
Times: "The Obama administration is accelerating the deployment of new
defenses
against possible Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, placing
special
ships [war ships] off the Iranian coast and antimissile systems in at
least
four [surrounding] Arab countries, according to administration and
military
officials." (January 30,
2010).

The same
article
mentions that U.S. General Petraeus admitted that, "" the United States
was now
keeping Aegis cruisers on patrol in the Persian Gulf [Iran's border] at
all
times. Those cruisers are equipped with advanced radar and antimissile
systems
designed to intercept medium-range missiles." Iran, as well
as the whole world, knows full well that "antimissile
systems" are perfectly capable of going on the offensive -- their real
purpose.

Iran is
completely surrounded by countries occupied by the U.S. military,
whether it be the mass occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the U.S. puppet
states that house U.S. military
bases in Arab nations (not to mention Zionist Israel, a U.S. cohort in
its war aims against Iran). Contrary
to the statements of President Obama, Iran is already
well contained militarily.

It remains to be seen how closely U.S. allies
will follow the new oil sanctions; they will be under tremendous
pressure to do so.The European Union has already signaled that it will
follow Obama's lead.

Ultimately, the march to war begun by Bush is picking up
momentum under Obama. Congressional Democrats and Republicans gave the
President their overwhelming support in passing these sanctions, proving
that
the two party system agrees to the necessity of more war.

Uniting the U.S. anti-war
movement is crucial if current and future wars are to be
stopped.A step in this direction will take place at the National Peace
Conference, in Albany, New York, July
23-25.

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Shamus Cooke is a social service worker and activist living in Portland Oregon.